Gary Cahill accused Corinthians’ Emerson of overreacting to being kicked in
the shin off the ball. "It wouldn’t have been enough to knock over my
one-year-old daughter,’’ said the Chelsea centre-half.

Cahill and Emerson were challenging for the ball in the final minute when the Brazilian appeared to raise a hand at the England international, who retaliated. Emerson rolled around on the ground, Cahill was sent off and now misses the Capital One Cup tie at Leeds United on Wednesday.

“I tackled him, we tangled up, he lashed out with his arm and hit me in the face,’’ said Cahill.

“I thought that was out of order but I reacted in a bad way. Looking back there’s two different stories.

"Someone’s smashed me in the face but I didn’t roll around on the floor for five minutes holding my head. I got up, reacted and tapped him in the shin. He felt the need to go down, roll around on the floor for about five times holding his face.

“It was late on, it wasn’t as if it was in the 60th minute. I could have got him sent off if I’d rolled around for five minutes after he hit me.

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"I am angry about it, I’m disappointed in myself for my reaction but also because it’s OK for someone to lash out at you but you do something back and it’s deemed a red card.

"It probably is a red card but the reaction of the guy is totally out of order for what I did. It wouldn’t have been enough to knock over my one-year-old daughter. I’m still angry.”

Chelsea manager Rafael Benítez conceded it was a red card. “It was this kind of situation with two players challenging for the ball and he lost his temper. I’ve seen it on the replay and it could be a red card,” he said.

Fifa confirmed the ban would be for Chelsea’s next game, against Leeds, and its disciplinary department would decide later in the week whether to extend the ban.